EEOC steps up anti-discrimination initiatives

The numbers are in and, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 75,768 people complained about the lack of respect that they received in the workplace last year. "Disrespect" is my term. In actuality, that is the total number of complaints of discrimination and harassment that were filed with the EEOC in 2006. This is an increase over 2005 when 75,428 were filed, but several thousand fewer than the high of 84,442 in 2002. Naomi C. Earp, EEOC chair, remarked that the figures demonstrate that discrimination "remains a persistent problem in the 21st century workplace."

Complaints of racially based discrimination ranked No. 1 at 27,238. This was followed by 23,247 based on sex, 16,548 age-related complaints, 15,575 for disabilities, 8,327 for national origin, and 2,541 for religion-based problems with last place going to violations of the Equal Pay Act at 861. Retaliation complaints are escalating, with 22,555 relating to all discrimination statutes filed. Title VII, the Civil Rights act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, resulted in 19,560 being filed.

NERC, the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, the state arm of the EEOC, perfected (completed the intake process and entered a signed complaint) approximately 1,058 cases last year. However, at any given time, the pending inventory of complaints number between 400 and 600. The majority of complaints handled are Title VII. These numbers translate into the EEOC's numbers, as the complaints generally are filed simultaneously with both organizations.

In April of last year the EEOC presented a revised compliance manual. This is the publication that outlines what the organization perceives as discriminatory actions and the major revisions related to what it calls "contemporary discrimination issues." The new section adds more subtle characteristics that can be considered when establishing discriminatory actions. For instance, "race-linked" illnesses, such as sickle cell anemia, which is strongly race-correlated; cultural characteristics, such as having a "black accent" or "sounding white"; or associations with a member of a protected class, such as being married to a member of another race are found more often in complaints recently filed. The manual recognizes that Caucasian individuals can be the victims of race discrimination, as well. It is also pointed out that employers must take into account all possible protected categories that an individual may belong to when evaluating the potential for discriminatory actions.

In recent years there have been some particular areas on which the organization has focused. In 2004 the "Youth at Work" initiative was undertaken as a national education and outreach campaign to promote equal employment opportunity for the next generation of workers. With the number of young people working in restaurants, fast food outlets and other areas that can employ them, it was important for them to be educated about illegal actions. The project includes partnerships with business leaders, human resources groups and industry trade associations. Free outreach events for high school students, youth organizations and small businesses that employ young workers are part of the plan and are aimed at proactively addressing discrimination issues confronting them. There is a website, Youth.AtWork@eeoc.gov, to access more information.

A more recent campaign has been launched by Ms. Earp called the Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment (E-RACE). The purpose is to continue to raise public awareness about the persistence of race discrimination, as well as publicize the parts of the compliance manual that highlight the more insidious forms of discrimination. Ms. Earp indicates that the initiative is intended to make their efforts to fight discrimination in the 21st century equally as effective, or even more so, as they have been in past years. She indicates that the advent of technology poses new challenges. For example, the use of "video resumes" could be misused and result in discriminatory decisions, so this is an area of concern.

On April 12, Ms. Earp wrote an open letter about Don Imus' derogatory remarks regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team. She said "The popular ditty, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me,' is untrue. Names, especially racial and sexist slurs, can and do hurt! It is one of the reasons that the EEOC recently launched E-RACE, a campaign to hold businesses accountable for the discriminatory conduct of their officials, managers and employees. Pursuant to this campaign, the EEOC intends to make clear that race and color discrimination in the workplace, whether verbal or behavioral, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The offensive remarks of Imus, the belated reaction of the networks and radio station, and Imus' defense of his comments by pointing to rap lyrics - as if two wrongs make a right- indicate the need for a clear and unambiguous dialogue about racism in America. It also points to a need for a change in this particular corporate culture, namely entertainment. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Employers must become intolerant of racist and sexist behavior in the workplace and invoke a zero-tolerance stance towards such offensive conduct, and so must the media and entertainment industry. Just as employees must be encouraged to demonstrate respect towards others, so must entertainers." (Accessing WWW.eeoc.gov/press/4-12-07a.html will provide a full copy of her letter.)

It is obvious that Naomi Earp intends for the EEOC to be very proactive in efforts to change the climate of discrimination in this country. We are seeing more activity on the part of the commission, from forming panels to discuss work/family balance issues, pregnancy discrimination, holding community outreach meetings, to the recent open-letter writing. This should put all employers on the alert for harassment and discrimination issues in their business.

It is amazing that the number of complaints filed remains steady, in spite of the expense that an employer must incur to defend them, not to mention that if everyone treated each other with respect, the problems would never occur. Having in place strong equal employment opportunity and anti-harassment policies, making fair and well-documented employment decisions, training all employees and keeping open lines of communication will help to keep your business from becoming a statistic with either the EEOC or NERC.

While doing those things is just common sense, promoting a diverse workforce is good for the bottom line. Bear in mind that most of the anti-discrimination laws apply to companies with 20 or more employees (15 or more for the Americans with Disabilities Act). However, it is just good business to treat your employees with respect, even if they can't file a complaint with an agency. If you would like to check out the EEOC you can do so at www.eeoc.gov/stats/enforcement.html or the NERC at www.detrnerc@nvdetr.org.

Char Coburn is the director of human resources for the Bonanza Casino, where she has worked for 23 years. She can be contacted at charcoburn@cs.com.